"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry first published in 1905. The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time. The plot and its twist ending are well known; the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony. The story was allegedly written at Pete's Tavern[2] on Irving Place in New York City.
The story was initially published in The New York Sunday World under the title "Gifts of the Magi" on December 10, 1905. It was first published in book form in the O. Henry anthology The Four Million in April 1906.
On Christmas Eve, Della Young discovers that she has only $1.87 (equivalent to about $62 in 2022) to buy a present for her husband Jim. She visits the nearby shop of a hairdresser, Madame Sofronie, who buys Della's long hair for $20 (about $600 in 2021). Della then uses the money to buy a platinumpocket watch chain for Jim. When Jim comes home from work that evening, Della admits to him that she sold her hair to buy him the chain. Jim gives Della her present – a set of ornamental combs, which she will be unable to use until her hair grows back out. Della gives Jim the watch chain, and he tells her that he sold the watch to buy the combs. While the gifts that Jim and Della gave each other cannot be used, they know how far they went to show each other their love and how invaluable their love truly is. The story ends with the narrator comparing these sacrificial gifts of love with those of the biblical Magi.
Adaptations
Films
The Sacrifice (1909)
Love's Surprises Are Futile (1916)
The Gift of the Magi (1917)
Ustedes los ricos ("You, the Rich Ones") (1948) includes the tale as a small sub-plot
In 1955, in The Honeymooners episode 13 of season 1, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" involves Ralph looking for the perfect present for Alice for Christmas. Without money, he pawns his prized bowling ball to buy her an expensive gift, only to find out in the end that she bought him a custom bowling ball bag.
In the 1978 Christmas special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, Ernie and Bert do an adaptation of "The Gift of the Magi". Ernie gives up his Rubber Duckie to buy Bert a cigar box to put his paperclip collection in, and Bert gives up his paperclip collection to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckie in. In the end, Mr. Hooper happily gives them back their items, realizing how much it hurt to sacrifice their possessions to please each other.
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, which is a twist on "The Gift of the Magi", is a children's storybook by Russell Hoban which was first published in 1971. In 1977, Muppet creator Jim Henson produced a one-hour television adaptation of the story, filmed in Toronto for HBO in the United States and CBC in Canada. The special premiered on HBO on December 17, 1978. The special later aired on ABC in 1980 and on Nickelodeon in the 1990s. The special features several original songs written by songwriter Paul Williams.
An off-Broadway musical version entitled The Gifts of the Magi[6] premiered at Lamb's Theatre in New York City in 1984. Written by Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts, the play is regularly produced in schools and regional theaters.
Radio drama series Adventures in Odyssey features a comedic adaptation of this story in its episode "Gifts for Madge & Guy" (1987).
The opening sketch of the December 10, 1988 episode of Season 14 of Saturday Night Live reimagines "The Gift of the Magi" as Donald and Ivana Trump (played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks) selling their yacht Princess and estate Mar-a-Lago, each in order to pay for a gift intended to adorn the other.[7]
In 1992, in Rugrats episode 27 "The Santa Experience", Phil doesn't know what to get Lil, so Angelica convinces him to give up his precious Reptar doll to get Lil crayons for her coloring book, and then convinces Lil to give up the coloring book to get a space helmet for Phil's Reptar doll even though Angelica was now in possession of it. The twins both believe the sacrifice is the greatest gift of all, leaving Angelica in bitter Christmas spirits until she returns the original gifts.
In 1993, an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had TV's Frank selling his hair and buying Dr. Forrester a watch fob. However, Dr. Forrester did not sell his watch to buy Frank a comb, merely thanking Frank for the watch fob for his still-owned watch.
In 1998, Indian singer Pankaj Udhas released his album Stolen Moments. The visualization of the song Ahista is a modern adaptation of The Gift of the Magi.
A parody appears in the 1999 Futurama episode "Xmas Story", in which Zoidberg gives Amy Wong a set of combs, only for her to reveal that she sold her hair to a wigmaker in order to buy a set of combs for Hermes Conrad, who then reveals that he sold his hair to a wigmaker in order to buy a set of combs for Zoidberg. Zoidberg then reveals that he has purchased Amy and Hermes' hair to wear on his own head.
In the 1999 Disney Christmas Video Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse do an adaptation of The Gift of the Magi. Mickey trades his harmonica to buy Minnie a chain for her watch and Minnie trades her watch to get Mickey a case for his harmonica.
The beginning moments of the 2002 special It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie feature gags based on the story. For example, while Rizzo the Rat sells his collection of rare cheese to buy Gonzo a dish for his mold collection, Gonzo reveals he sold his mold collection to buy Rizzo a cheese slicer.
The 2009 Christmas episode of Robot Chicken features a parody of "The Gift of the Magi", where Jim refuses to sell his watch for expensive brushes and buys Della lingerie instead, much to her displeasure.
In the 2009 Christmas special of Phineas and Ferb, "Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation", Candace sells her necklace that she was planning on trading for earrings, in order to buy her boyfriend Jeremy a new guitar, while Jeremy trades his old guitar which he was planning on trading for a new one, in order to buy Candace the earrings she wanted. This twists the story so that each party ends up with the gift they wanted anyway.
In 2018, an episode of Puppy Dog Pals entitled "Bingo and Rolly's Birthday" had each of the two dog characters trading their prized possessions (a stick collection and a Captain Dog action figure) to obtain gifts for each other (a box for the stick collection, and a spring to repair the launcher on the action figure).
A parody appears in the 2019 Family Guy episode "Bri, Robot", in which Peter Griffin gets a job as a masseur, using the money he earns to buy Lois Griffin a comb for her beautiful hair, only for her to reveal that she sold her beautiful hair in order to buy him a bottle of massage oil.
In Glee season 2, episode 10, Mr. Shue talks about the tale with their students of the choir.
In 2019 composer Eric Whitacre composed and conducted a one act chamber opera of The Gift of the Magi for five soloists, piano, and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
^St. Germain, Mark; Courts, Randy (1984). The Gifts of the Magi. New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc. ISBN978-0-8222-1461-8
^Watch A Trump Christmas from Saturday Night Live on NBC.com, retrieved 2017-08-03
External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
The Gift of the Magi
"The Gift of the Magi" by O Henry
The Gift of the Magi public domain audiobook at LibriVox
O'Henry's "The Gift of the Magi":Common Core Exemplar from NEH's EDSITEment
"The Gift of the Magi" study guide, teacher resources, themes, quotes
January 24, 2023
gift, magi, this, article, about, short, story, gifts, presented, jesus, gifts, magi, other, uses, disambiguation, short, story, henry, first, published, 1905, story, tells, young, husband, wife, they, deal, with, challenge, buying, secret, christmas, gifts, e. This article is about the short story For the gifts presented to Jesus see Gifts of the Magi For other uses see The Gift of the Magi disambiguation The Gift of the Magi is a short story by O Henry first published in 1905 The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift giving it has been popular for adaptation especially for presentation at Christmas time The plot and its twist ending are well known the ending is generally considered an example of comic irony The story was allegedly written at Pete s Tavern 2 on Irving Place in New York City The Gift of the Magi by O HenryCountryUnited StatesLanguageEnglishGenre s Short storyPublished inThe Four MillionPublication typeAnthologyPublisherMcClure Phillips and CompanyPublication dateDecember 10 1905 newspaper April 10 1906 book 1 Full textThe Gift of the Magi at WikisourceThe story was initially published in The New York Sunday World under the title Gifts of the Magi on December 10 1905 It was first published in book form in the O Henry anthology The Four Million in April 1906 Contents 1 Plot 2 Adaptations 2 1 Films 2 2 Other media 3 See also 4 References 5 External linksPlot Edit Appearance in the 1906 anthology The Four Million page 16 On Christmas Eve Della Young discovers that she has only 1 87 equivalent to about 62 in 2022 to buy a present for her husband Jim She visits the nearby shop of a hairdresser Madame Sofronie who buys Della s long hair for 20 about 600 in 2021 Della then uses the money to buy a platinum pocket watch chain for Jim When Jim comes home from work that evening Della admits to him that she sold her hair to buy him the chain Jim gives Della her present a set of ornamental combs which she will be unable to use until her hair grows back out Della gives Jim the watch chain and he tells her that he sold the watch to buy the combs While the gifts that Jim and Della gave each other cannot be used they know how far they went to show each other their love and how invaluable their love truly is The story ends with the narrator comparing these sacrificial gifts of love with those of the biblical Magi Adaptations EditFilms Edit The Sacrifice 1909 Love s Surprises Are Futile 1916 The Gift of the Magi 1917 Ustedes los ricos You the Rich Ones 1948 includes the tale as a small sub plot As a segment of O Henry s Full House 1952 The Gift of the Magi 1958 The Gift of Love 1978 Dary magow Poland 1972 Christmas Eve on Sesame Street 1978 I ll not be a gangster love Ne budu gangsterom dorogaya Ne budu gangsterom dorogaya USSR 1978 3 Mickey s Once Upon a Christmas 1999 4 The Gift of the Magi 2004 Raincoat 2004 For the First Time 2010 5 Love a French movie based some of its scenes on this story Darovete na vlahvite 2013 directed by Ivan Abadjiev The Gift of the Magi 2014 The Greek film directed by Ismene Daskarolis places it in the economic crisis of contemporary Greece Prem Puran 2019 Other media Edit In 1955 in The Honeymooners episode 13 of season 1 Twas the Night Before Christmas involves Ralph looking for the perfect present for Alice for Christmas Without money he pawns his prized bowling ball to buy her an expensive gift only to find out in the end that she bought him a custom bowling ball bag In the 1978 Christmas special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street Ernie and Bert do an adaptation of The Gift of the Magi Ernie gives up his Rubber Duckie to buy Bert a cigar box to put his paperclip collection in and Bert gives up his paperclip collection to get Ernie a soap dish to put his Rubber Duckie in In the end Mr Hooper happily gives them back their items realizing how much it hurt to sacrifice their possessions to please each other Emmet Otter s Jug Band Christmas which is a twist on The Gift of the Magi is a children s storybook by Russell Hoban which was first published in 1971 In 1977 Muppet creator Jim Henson produced a one hour television adaptation of the story filmed in Toronto for HBO in the United States and CBC in Canada The special premiered on HBO on December 17 1978 The special later aired on ABC in 1980 and on Nickelodeon in the 1990s The special features several original songs written by songwriter Paul Williams An off Broadway musical version entitled The Gifts of the Magi 6 premiered at Lamb s Theatre in New York City in 1984 Written by Mark St Germain and Randy Courts the play is regularly produced in schools and regional theaters Radio drama series Adventures in Odyssey features a comedic adaptation of this story in its episode Gifts for Madge amp Guy 1987 The opening sketch of the December 10 1988 episode of Season 14 of Saturday Night Live reimagines The Gift of the Magi as Donald and Ivana Trump played by Phil Hartman and Jan Hooks selling their yacht Princess and estate Mar a Lago each in order to pay for a gift intended to adorn the other 7 In 1992 in Rugrats episode 27 The Santa Experience Phil doesn t know what to get Lil so Angelica convinces him to give up his precious Reptar doll to get Lil crayons for her coloring book and then convinces Lil to give up the coloring book to get a space helmet for Phil s Reptar doll even though Angelica was now in possession of it The twins both believe the sacrifice is the greatest gift of all leaving Angelica in bitter Christmas spirits until she returns the original gifts In 1993 an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had TV s Frank selling his hair and buying Dr Forrester a watch fob However Dr Forrester did not sell his watch to buy Frank a comb merely thanking Frank for the watch fob for his still owned watch In 1998 Indian singer Pankaj Udhas released his album Stolen Moments The visualization of the song Ahista is a modern adaptation of The Gift of the Magi The title of the 1999 Christmas episode of The Simpsons Grift of the Magi is a reference to the story A parody appears in the 1999 Futurama episode Xmas Story in which Zoidberg gives Amy Wong a set of combs only for her to reveal that she sold her hair to a wigmaker in order to buy a set of combs for Hermes Conrad who then reveals that he sold his hair to a wigmaker in order to buy a set of combs for Zoidberg Zoidberg then reveals that he has purchased Amy and Hermes hair to wear on his own head In the 1999 Disney Christmas Video Mickey s Once Upon a Christmas Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse do an adaptation of The Gift of the Magi Mickey trades his harmonica to buy Minnie a chain for her watch and Minnie trades her watch to get Mickey a case for his harmonica The beginning moments of the 2002 special It s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie feature gags based on the story For example while Rizzo the Rat sells his collection of rare cheese to buy Gonzo a dish for his mold collection Gonzo reveals he sold his mold collection to buy Rizzo a cheese slicer The 2009 Christmas episode of Robot Chicken features a parody of The Gift of the Magi where Jim refuses to sell his watch for expensive brushes and buys Della lingerie instead much to her displeasure In the 2009 Christmas special of Phineas and Ferb Phineas and Ferb Christmas Vacation Candace sells her necklace that she was planning on trading for earrings in order to buy her boyfriend Jeremy a new guitar while Jeremy trades his old guitar which he was planning on trading for a new one in order to buy Candace the earrings she wanted This twists the story so that each party ends up with the gift they wanted anyway In 2018 an episode of Puppy Dog Pals entitled Bingo and Rolly s Birthday had each of the two dog characters trading their prized possessions a stick collection and a Captain Dog action figure to obtain gifts for each other a box for the stick collection and a spring to repair the launcher on the action figure A parody appears in the 2019 Family Guy episode Bri Robot in which Peter Griffin gets a job as a masseur using the money he earns to buy Lois Griffin a comb for her beautiful hair only for her to reveal that she sold her beautiful hair in order to buy him a bottle of massage oil In Glee season 2 episode 10 Mr Shue talks about the tale with their students of the choir In 2019 composer Eric Whitacre composed and conducted a one act chamber opera of The Gift of the Magi for five soloists piano and the Los Angeles Master Chorale In Fablehaven Rise of the Evening Star by Brandon Mull Errol Fisk references the tale while conversing with Kendra about his livelihood See also EditList of Christmas themed literatureReferences Edit The Gift of the Magi is published This Day in History 4 10 1906 history com 2011 Retrieved November 16 2011 O Henry and The Gift of the Magi LiteraryTraveler com Archived from the original on 2012 02 17 Retrieved 2007 05 13 Ne budu gangsterom dorogaya Mickey s Once Upon A Christmas at IMDb O Henry at IMDb St Germain Mark Courts Randy 1984 The Gifts of the Magi New York Dramatists Play Service Inc ISBN 978 0 8222 1461 8 Watch A Trump Christmas from Saturday Night Live on NBC com retrieved 2017 08 03External links Edit Wikisource has original text related to this article The Gift of the Magi The Gift of the Magi by O Henry The Gift of the Magi public domain audiobook at LibriVox O Henry s The Gift of the Magi Common Core Exemplar from NEH s EDSITEment The Gift of the Magi study guide teacher resources themes quotes Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The Gift of the Magi amp oldid 1126798381, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
